The Shelter of your Arms
by Oratorio
Summary: Seona runs the local cat shelter. So many abandoned cats keep her busy - too busy for a social life. Then - out of the blue - she receives an invite to the RFA party. Thinking that she could use it to network and raise much-needed funds, she accepts. It changes her life completely.
1. Chapter 1

Life running a cat shelter was mostly about washing the smell of cat food out of your clothes and cleaning litter boxes. It wasn't a glamorous thing to do. Seona didn't mind the dirty work one bit. She had always loved cats, and spent years begging her mother to let her have her very own kitten. She had always said no. Maybe this was her way of rebelling, Seona thought.

It was all worth it at the end of the day, when she got to visit each pen and cuddle the cats. By then, their bellies were full and they were warm and content, and most of them welcomed the interaction. Sure, there were a few who didn't enjoy it, but most of them came round eventually.

Except for Wilcox. Wilcox had been at the shelter longer than any other cat. He was an enormous tom, black as tar, with huge yellow eyes which would stare at you expressionless until you tried to pet him, whereupon they would flash with a rage fit for Lucifer himself. Seona had been on the receiving end of his claws way too many times now, and she had the scars to prove it. He hated everyone. Seona would watch him pace the cage, fur prickling, growling low in his throat. She often fell asleep at night worrying that it wasn't fair, keeping him in this life the way he was. Perhaps he would be happier if they let him go, a quick injection and then he'd know no more of this stress and frustration. She'd even booked him in with the vet a couple of times, but when it had come to it she just couldn't do it.

As she locked up that night and headed for home, she thought about Wilcox again. Who would ever want him? He was never going to be a family pet. He could barely tolerate being touched. And he wasn't any good as a mouser, either - he was far too lazy for that. He would just spend his days perched on the cat tree glaring evilly at anyone who passed. It was hard enough to find black cats a home - they were passed over more than any other colour - but for this one, it was proving impossible.

Seona was still mulling over the tom's fate when she arrived home and pulled into her driveway. She held a takeaway in one hand, a bottle of wine in the other. It had been a long day, and she couldn't be bothered to cook. With a loud sigh, she kicked off her shoes and collapsed on the sofa, bringing up her emails to read as she ate her noodles.

"Bill… bill… begging letter… request for help… bill…"

Every day it was the same. All the things she had to pay for - cat food, heating, cleaning products - the bills came rolling in, interspersed with emails from people complaining about their cat's behaviour, wanting to know how they could stop them knocking things off tables, chewing wires, crapping on the carpet. People asking her to come and collect their kitty now, they couldn't take being woken up at 5am any more, or their child was bored with it.

You needed the patience of a saint in this job. Some of these people made Wilcox look like an angel.

There was another email, too, simply titled "Invitation". Seona opened it hesitantly, wondering if it was spam.

"You are cordially invited to the R.F.A. party. This is the organisation's first party after the introduction of a new member. We hope it to be a meaningful event, as after Rika's passing, we considered another party impossible. We request the pleasure of your company and hope you grace the occasion with your presence."

The email gave a date and time - just over a week away - and was signed by Jumin Han, the well-known corporate director of C&R International. An extremely wealthy young man who was known to adore cats. Seona felt a frisson of excitement shoot through her belly. If this invite was genuine, it could provide a much-needed connection to funds for her shelter. Maybe Mr Han would want to become a patron? She quickly dashed off an email to the contact RSVP address provided, asking questions to ensure that the party was for real. Then she blocked out a space in her diary, just in case.

That night, she slept better than usual, with none of her usual nightmares.

* * *

There was another email the following evening. This time, it had been sent by someone calling themselves "MC". They had answered Seona's question enthusiastically and hoped that she would choose to attend the party. Seona sent back another question. You couldn't be too careful, and while she'd heard of Jumin - who hadn't - she had no idea who this MC was.

Still, she started looking online for dresses. She hadn't been to a fancy party since her graduation six years previously, but she doubted that jeans covered with cat hair would be an acceptable outfit. More money she really couldn't afford - but she hoped that it would pay off in the long term, if she could get Jumin Han on board. It was worth a try.

* * *

Another email. More questions answered. MC was still trying hard to persuade Seona to attend. Seona thought she probably would, but sent one final question to be answered. Then she bought the dress she'd had her eye on the day before. Floor-length, fitted to the waist with a corset top, in the deepest, richest shade of purple she thought she'd ever seen. It was ridiculously extravagant but it was beautiful, and she desperately wanted it. Besides, it matched her hair.

Five more days until the party. Seona felt a twinge of nerves. She wasn't good at meeting new people - she tried hard, for the sake of fundraising, but in all truth she preferred the company of the cats to humans. Still, a few glasses of wine and she could manage. She hadn't told anyone else at the shelter about it yet, and wondered how the staff would react. No doubt there would be some jealousy there - Jumin was a well-known eligible bachelor, and she thought she remembered that the famous actor Zen was a member of the fundraising organisation too. He was in all of the magazines, and was widely considered to be a celebrated beauty. She couldn't see it herself, but she was pretty sure that Yuna - one of the volunteers at the shelter - had a huge crush on him, and had been to see all of his musicals.

* * *

The following day was a particularly busy one. They had three cats come through intake - one that had been hit by a car and had been patched up at the local vets, but nobody had claimed him. He wasn't in a good way, and needed a special pen where he could be kept comfortable and not be able to jump too high. Another was a stray, picked up on the streets of Seoul, filthy and skinny with tangled fur. The third was a fat house cat, whose owner had passed away. Seona felt sorry for them all, but the bewildered cries of the lost and confused house cat stayed with her all evening. Even another email from MC couldn't shake her out of her dark mood.

It was why she never had a cat of her own to come home to. She lived alone, and didn't want to risk the poor soul being abandoned if something happened to her.

At least the email was cheerful and bright, MC's words of encouragement helping her to make the decision to attend the party. She so rarely went out anywhere that it would be nice to get dressed up and be social for once. And if it brought funding their way in the future, all the better. That night, Seona dreamed of going into business with Mr Han, opening the biggest and most lavish cat shelter that the country had ever seen. She woke smiling with a spring in her step, for once feeling positive about the future.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning brought Seona's pleasant mood crashing down, with bad news in the form of a letter on her doormat informing her that her landlord was putting her rent up by nearly 20 per cent. "Unavoidable rise due to the increase in taxes", the letter read. Seona felt her eyes prickle as she mentally calculated how she would afford to pay the extra. She wondered if she ought to return the dress she'd bought for the party - she'd spent far too much on it, she knew. She also knew that if she returned it now she wouldn't have time to buy anything else. The easiest thing would be to email MC and give her apologies, after all. _So sorry, something's come up_. She opened her emails with a sigh.

"Dear MC. Please accept my sincere apologies, but I am now no longer able to attend the RFA party on Saturday. I hope that you are able to collect a large number of donations and that the party is a success, and thank you very much for thinking of me. Yours sincerely, Lee Seona, Little Kits Shelter and Sanctuary."

She clicked send and immediately shut down her laptop, trying to hold back her tears. She'd been looking forward to wearing that dress and having a rare evening out. Meeting new people who weren't cats, having human conversations. Feeling, if only for one day, that her life didn't just revolve around cleaning cat poo and scrubbing pens. She should have known better. Nothing good ever happened to her.

Wilcox had picked up on her mood, it seemed. The old tom was particularly foul that day - lying in wait for her as she opened his pen and swiping her ankles with his sharp claws as she passed. She swore as the blood began to soak through her sock, trying to ignore the pain as she put his food down for him. He ignored the meal and hissed at her until she limped away, locking the door behind her.

It was a long day, much of it spent with the new cats from yesterday. The young female who had been hit by the car was still no better, lying listlessly on her cushion without eating. Seona rang the vet and increased the dosage of painkillers, hoping that her appetite would come back soon. The street cat was doing better, although he fought hard against the bath that Seona made him take. When he was dry and clean, his fur was a beautiful silver tabby and he looked so much better immediately. Seona thought that he would find a home soon. He was a friendly sort, when you weren't trying to bathe him, and his markings were unusual - spots as well as stripes. He would do just fine.

She wasn't so sure about the fat old calico cat whose owner had died. She was still pining, and not coping well with being cooped up in a pen instead of asleep in front of a fire. Seona spent several hours trying to coax her to eat, even putting down fresh boiled chicken for her to no avail. She stayed far later into the night than she would normally do, but the old cat turned her nose up at everything.

It was past nine o'clock before Seona finally made it back through her front door, and by that time she had little energy left to do anything other than shower, eat a slice of bread and collapse into bed. She didn't bother to check her emails, not wanting to find one from MC trying to persuade her to change her mind. She was already feeling regret at declining the invite, and didn't want to feel pushed into going to the party, much as she wanted to. Saving money was the most important thing right now.

* * *

When she arrived home from work the next day, the dress had arrived. Seona perched on the edge of her bed, her fingertips tracing the edges of the packaging. She knew she should just re-label it and send it straight back, but… Surely it wouldn't hurt just to try it on, just once? Her thumbnail picked at the parcel tape holding the bag together.

She smoothed the skirts down and spun round in front of her mirror. The dress was beautiful. It made her feel beautiful, which was not a word that she would normally use for herself. Normally, she spent her days grubby and sweaty, hair scraped back into a bun, nails thick with a layer of grime and her clothes drab and baggy. This dress was everything she wasn't - extravagant, graceful, feminine. Wearing it, she felt like a princess, if a princess could be both ravishing and wanton. The corset top pulled her in tightly at the waist, pushing her soft breasts to rise above the neckline in an alluring fashion. Each time she took a deep breath, she could see them heaving in a way that made her blush. The skirts draped like an indigo waterfall from her hips, swishing around her feet as she moved so that they looked alive. The fullness of the fabric concealed the slight pudge of her belly and the thickness of her thighs. Overall, the effect was breathtaking. She had never looked like this in her life.

It was a shame she was going to have to send it back.

She gazed at her reflection and ran her hands over her figure as if she couldn't quite believe it was her own body she was seeing. Sure, her hair needed a wash and hung in lank violet tendrils across her bare shoulders. And yes, her face was reddened from the chill in the air, and her lips were dry and chapped. Somehow, despite all that, she still looked radiant. She choked down a lump in her throat as she realised that she would have to take the dress off, pack it away, and nobody would ever see her looking like this.

The invoice for the dress poked out of the postal bag. She pulled it out and read the figures, and slowly began to unlace the dress.

It was nice while it lasted.

* * *

The dress was parcelled up and sitting on her table ready to return when she sat down and pulled out her laptop to check her emails later that night.

*Mailer-Daemon: Message undeliverable.*

Seona frowned as she clicked on the returned email. She could have sworn she typed in MC's email address correctly. For some reason, though, the message hadn't got to her. MC would still be expecting her at the party, in less than three days time.

Seona hovered her cursor over the "Resend" button, thinking of the party, the dress, how it made her feel.

Thinking of her rent, her bills, how she needed to buy food for herself and the cats.

Thinking of how lonely she felt, days spent with the cats, nights spent alone in her little apartment with nobody to talk to.

She rubbed her eyes, swallowed hard and clicked on "Delete", watching the message vanish into her trash folder. Then she unpacked the dress and hung it in her closet, feeling a frisson of guilty excitement. She would worry about the rent later.

* * *

Seona immersed herself in work over the next few days, making the hours tick by faster. When Saturday came she was exhausted, but still rose at six to start her preparations. The party was an all-afternoon affair, starting at noon and going on well into the evening, so she had little time to beautify herself. She was determined to look her best, so rarely did she get the chance to do so.

She towelled herself down after a long, frothy shower and coated her body in perfumed lotion that her sister had bought for her one Christmas, and which she hardly ever used. Cats never appreciated the scent of Thierry Mugler, after all. She topped it up with a few sprays of the matching perfume and sat down to dry and style her hair. That was always a bit of a task - she had long, thick hair which tended to frizz. It took a lot of mousse and patience to get it looking good, but eventually she was happy with the shiny purple tresses which fell around her face in waves. Finally, she applied her make-up. This was not something she was good at, but with the help of Youtube videos and a lot of scrubbing off and starting again, she was done. She stood in front of her mirror and examined herself. She looked like a different version of Seona, she thought, one who had been born to a more glamorous lifestyle where she had everything she could have ever wanted. Maybe for today she could pretend.

The dress helped. She laughed out loud when she saw her reflection, as if a stranger stared back at her. She wondered if she could invent a new personality to go with this weird and wonderful new look. Someone who was confident, perhaps, funny and witty and the soul of the party. She giggled. Probably need a few drinks before she could manage to pull that off.

* * *

She'd had two large glasses of wine by 2pm. It was good wine, too - crisp and cold, and with just the right levels of oak. She drained the last drops of her second, and headed to the bar for another.

It had been daunting so far. Ever since the taxi had drawn up to the venue - an old manor house, beautifully decorated for the occasion - she had felt her stomach tie itself in knots so tight that she wondered if it would ever untangle. She'd walked hesitantly along the red carpet - a red carpet, for her! - and through the large mahogany doors, her eyes constantly scanning the richness of her surroundings. Sculptures stood in the hallway and paintings hung from the walls which were probably worth more than she could ever earn in her lifetime. It was overwhelming.

Jumin Han himself had come to greet her.

"Ms Lee. I am so glad that you could make it to our party," he had said, tilting his head to press dry lips to the back of her hand. She shivered.

"I thank you for inviting me." Seona had felt like she wanted to curl up under his steel-eyed scrutiny. He was terrifying.

"It was my pleasure. I hope that we might be able to work together in the future on some of my cat related projects?"

"I would be delighted."

"Good," he had said, his voice firm. "I will be in touch, no doubt."

Then he had disappeared into the crowd, ignoring a small group of women who were fanning themselves and desperately trying to catch his eye. She had never met anyone who seemed so purposeful and businesslike. His heritage was obvious.

Quite unlike herself. She toyed with the stem of her third glass of wine, feeling totally out of her depth and unsure about who to speak to. So far, she had mainly hovered on the outskirts of the party, watching everyone else mingle.


End file.
